Read each post and respond 120 words each and 2 references.
HTstudentIntroduction
This discussion focuses on satire as exhibited by Swift’s and Moliere’s works. Purposely, this discussion is centred on exploring the parts of Swift’s and Moliere’s society that their satirical work was criticising. It further explores the kind of change that the two expected to achieve in their society through their satire. Finally, the discussion closes by assessing how satire serves the above functions in the modern-day society.
Moliere’s and Swift’s Satirical Criticism of the State and Religion
The Enlightenment period, which came immediately after the medieval period, was characterised by renewed efforts to separate the Church and the State. The arts were synonymous with the political systems which were beginning to take shape. Both Moliere and Swift, without any threat of execution or persecution as would have been in the medieval period, satirically criticised the ineffectiveness of the Church and their government. They employed satire, which is an exaggerated mirror of the society, to push forth for the political and religious reformations in their society. According to Swift, satire is comparable to a mirror onto which the beholders are only able to recognise their own faces; the principal factor for the kind of life they are leading in their society. In essence, Moliere and Swift employed satire in criticising their religion and government so as to enable the individuals in their society to clearly see their position in the society in relation to their government and religion. This was aimed at transforming the perceptions of each individual to comply with their own and then push forward as a society for the required political and religious changes in their society. This was possible because; no individual can see an undesirable feature of him/her in the mirror and just refuse to take an action to remedy it. Fundamentally, Moliere and Swift employed satire to change the face of the whole society.
In the contemporary society, satire has been employed to achieve what Moliere and Swift endeavoured to achieve; to change the face of the whole society. Some of the modern works employing satire to achieve the same goal are: Kurt Vonnegut’s works and Stephen Colbert’s faux-pundit personality. These works are full of exaggerated exaggerations mirroring the everyday lives in the society. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is also full of satire. It aims at transforming the American society’s perception towards racism. At least, everybody is able to see where he/she stands as regards to racism. Those standing on the wrong side, fearing to be seen appearing differently from the others when mirrored by satire, slowly transform in order to comply with what the society expects of them. In this way, satire has achieved societal change.
Conclusion
Satire, which is categorically an art, is an exaggerated mirroring of the society. Through satire, individuals in the society are able to evidently see their positions in the society. It just mirrors an individual as he/she is, and how he/she fits into the larger collective fabric holding them together; the society. Starting from an individual sensitization of he/she is the whole society can be transformed in relation to the caricatures they see of themselves in the mirror of satire.